Speaking of animals, I saw something that made me cry today. There was a cat lying next to the sidewalk. It looked like it was sleeping or in repose, but it's eyes were open and it was dead. Things like that just break my heart.
For Maya...and for Panni, and Laura, and Jane, and...all of us who love cats:
CAT HEAVEN
by Cynthia Rylant
The way to Cat Heaven is a field of sweet grass
where crickets and butterflies play.
A cat may be late in getting to Heaven . . .
there's so much fun on the way!
But an angel will wait
at the yellow front door,
wait til a kitty
comes home.
And when she arrives,
he'll give her a kiss
and some milk
in a bowl all her own.
There are trees
in Cat Heaven,
trees made just for cats,
trees growing
so green and so high.
But no one gets stuck in a tree
anymore --
if a cat wants down,
she will fly!
And oh the toys,
kitty toys everywhere,
thousands and thousands
go by.
There are buttons and baubles
and small cotton mice --
there is catnip afloat
in the sky!
There are angels,
of course,
with soft angel laps
where kitties can purr
loud and strong.
The angels will rub
kitties' noses and ears
and sing them
a Cat Heaven song.
And when cats are hungry,
there's God's kitchen counter
all covered with
white kitty dishes,
full of tuna and salmon
and mounds of sardines,
and wonderful little pink fishes.
The cats in Cat Heaven
are so loved and spoiled
God lets them all
lie on his bed . . .
He walks in His garden
with a good black book
and a kitty
asleep on His head.
Then when a cat needs,
she may just simply ponder
and watch the blue world deep and wide . . .
She will watch the old house
where she once lived and wandered,
and the people who loved her inside.
All cats love Heaven,
they know the way there,
they know where
the angel cats fly.
They'll run past the stars
and the moon and the sun . . .
. . . to curl up with God in the sky.
